MusicRadar Verdict

For adding a sense of derangement to any passage, it's a tortured treat.

Pros

+
Interesting tweak on delay. Handmade in Oregon. Tortured tones.

Cons

-
Requires careful application.

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Imagine a delay where every repeat gradually descends in pitch - it sounds like a nightmare, and that's the point.

"Lower regen settings sound like heavily vibrato'd delays across the 20ms-800ms range"

The Downward Spiral's pitch descent increases as you up the regen (aka feedback) control, right up to minutes of trails until the notes become a garbled mess.

Lower regen settings sound like heavily vibrato'd delays across the 20ms-800ms range, with the descent only apparent when you stop playing.

It's not the easiest to use creatively, but for adding a sense of derangement to any passage, it's a tortured treat.

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.

Matteo Mancuso wears a white T-shirt and plays his Yamaha Revstar in Tobacco Burst live onstage during a soundcheck before his festival appearance at at Casa del Jazz, Rome.

“Imagine not knowing Eric Johnson, Vai and Satriani and seeing this for the first time? It literally blows your mind”: Matteo Mancuso – 10 albums that changed my life